A Turkish soldier was killed and seven others were wounded Thursday after an attack on their military vehicle in the western Turkish province of Izmir, NTV news channel reported.

The military vehicle was hit by an explosion at 8:00 AM before the assailants opened fire on the troops, who were on their way to Amfibi Marine Infantry post located in the tourist town of Foca.

A Turkish lawyer who defended suspected al-Qaida militants has been killed in fighting in the Syrian city of Aleppo, Turkey's Anatolia news agency said Wednesday.

Osman Karahan, who represented several suspects accused of carrying out four truck bomb blasts in Istanbul in November 2003, was buried Tuesday after being killed in the heavy combat gripping the key northern city, his brother Ekrem Karahan told Anatolia.

Some 2,400 people crossed into Turkey overnight to escape the escalating violence in Syria, Turkey’s government-run news agency reported on Wednesday.

The Anadolu Agency said that the crowd included 37 Syrian army officials two of whom were generals and two colonels.

Turkey can play a "major role" in freeing 48 Iranian pilgrims abducted in Syria because of its links with the Syrian opposition, Iran's foreign minister said on Tuesday.

Ali Akbar Salehi said he was in Turkey to follow the case of the pilgrims abducted over the weekend because "Turkey has links with the opposition in Syria, so we think Turkey can play major role in freeing our pilgrims."

Turkey on Tuesday rejected remarks by a top Iranian defense official that Ankara would be the country next affected by the conflict in Syria and that it was a U.S. stooge.

"We strongly condemn the groundless accusations and extremely inappropriate threats against our country delivered by some Iranian officials, including those by Iranian chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Iraq is to "review" relations with Turkey after Ankara's foreign minister visited the disputed northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk without informing Baghdad, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said on Tuesday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's visit to Kirkuk on August 2 drew a furious reaction from Baghdad and brought already-chilly relations between the two countries to a new low.

As Europe battles its never-ending debt crisis, Turkey, with its flourishing economy, is increasingly attracting the attention of German companies, as well as German-born Turks in search of a job.

The Turkish economy is the envy of the crisis-wracked Eurozone: its gross domestic product (GDP) has expanded by an annual average 5.4 percent over the past 10 years. Its public debt has fallen below 40 percent of GDP, much lower than the majority of European countries. And inflation, which was once dizzyingly high, is now under control.

The Iranian Chief of General Staff Hasan Fruzabadi held Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar responsible for bloodshed in Syria in a statement published on the Revolutionary Guard’s website.

“To help the war plans of the Great Satan (USA) is not a good principal to follow for neighboring countries. If they are acting on this basis, then they should know that the next time, it will be Turkey’s and other countries turn to take the fall,” Fruzabadi said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi will pay a snap visit to Turkey late Tuesday for talks on the Syrian crisis and 48 Iranians kidnapped there, officials said.

The Iranian foreign minister wanted to visit Turkey "at his own request," which was conveyed through diplomatic channels late Monday, a Turkish diplomat told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Some 1,137 Syrians, including a defecting general, have fled to Turkey amid the escalating violence in the strife-torn Syria, the Anatolia news agency reported Tuesday.

The latest group brought the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey to nearly 50,000.